I will try to
recall what Emmett Hatch told me about the incident with the HH-3 at DaNang.

I think he was
with the 37th ARRS there. It seems the helicopter lost an engine and had to land
on a sandbar in the middle of the river next to the base. The engine could not
be repaired in time to fly the aircraft back to the safety of the base before
nightfall. Emmett had contacted the local Det of
Marines to see if they could put some men out there to secure the chopper
overnight but they could not.

If left out
overnight the VC would destroy or at the least booby trap the bird to prevent it's recovery. It seemed a shame to lose an aircraft and
not be able to do anything about it. Emmett had sent a message to higher HQ but
time was running out. There was an Army unit nearby with an H-64 (?) Skycrane which
would have the power to lift the broken Jolly to safety. Emmett was able
to get the Army troops to attempt an airlift before dark. The Army pilot hooked
onto the Jolly H-3 and picked it up but he was either untrained enough or the
cables malfunctioned and the Jolly was dropped unceremoniously from several
feet, which caused major damage.

Another more
skilled Army pilot quickly volunteered for the task and successfully carried to
Jolly H-3 to the security of the base just before dark. Unfortunately the
helicopter had taken a pretty good wallop when dropped and had significant
damage.

For his
efforts to save an aircraft, Emmett got a reaming from HQ. At least they had
something to repair or at least spare parts, as the enemy would surely have
destroyed the chopper during the night.